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Sexy Search Engine Strategies: How to Flock Your Way to the Top Super Duper Fast (Without Doing Anything Dirty, Distasteful or just plain wrong)
I want a share a really great way to turbo charge your search engine rankings and turn on a nice tangential traffic torrent on just about any blog or website you own. Not only does this strategy work like magic – it’s simple, smart and super easy to do….and conforms to just about every "intuitive" optimization inkling that I try to incorporate into my own stuff.
What "inkling" is that?
That to rank well, stronger and longer, to be considered an "authority" site, or at least put on a good act that you’re trying to be one, instead of worrying in infinite and infinitesimal detail about no follow – do follow – link juice/bleed and all kinds of other exotic ideas that make my brain hurt, instead……as Robert Scoble said far better than I – "don’t be sticky – be linky."
Link often, link everywhere and link liberally whenever possible.
Now, I know I’m in the minority, but I love "Flock" as a browser for all kinds of great social networking reasons.
If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a free browser, it’s super cool and most people have never heard of it unless you maintain a lot of blogs and social networking profiles like many of us do. ( I wrote about flock here well over a year ago…and it still remains one of the most indispensable free tools I use everyday)
I use Flock to do a ton of updating to my stuff – and there are actually some pretty powerful ways you can control, contort and repuprose your own content using Flock that are simply beyond the scope of this particular post. ( but are super cool….super fast…and if you’re building a "network" of feeder style sites, is my favorite way of feeding those sites with fresh content that utilizes OTHER properties you already own)
Here are the rules though in sharing this with you – I don’t want you to say it’s a great idea – or tell me you’ll try it – or put on the plate of perpetual processes you’re going to work on next week...just do it, and start doing it this weekend. Life is short, and trust me…..you’re not getting any younger.
Why?
If you’ve got blogs that you want to rank higher, right now, on specific, valuable 3 word or more long tail phrases, this works really, really fast both from the standpoint of time required to make it happen, and the speed at which you’ll see real results. ( and you can see this all for yourself, rather than trusting me – because – I’m going to tell you the truth – I’m not that trustworthy even though I look friendly and honest.)
- Download and Install Flock. (it’s free – no costs – no up sells – no secret handshakes.)
- In the Tools section – add your blog settings – if using self hosted WordPress like most of you are – just input your WordPress username/login and you’re good to go.
- Grab a list of 21, 3 word valuable long tail Keyword phrases that you’d like to have FIRST page rankings on in the next 3 weeks. You can obviously used paid keyword tools for this like Nichebot, or Keyword Country which is ideal because it will give you *pretty* accurate competition and volume numbers and will make your job easier…….but it’s not even necessary. The truth? I often used Scribd keywords taken RIGHT from my competitors uploaded docs for this which are free and very effective. ( Note: Strangely – Scribd has removed these from their site over the last day and a half….and replaced this keyword rich data with meaningless drivel that is not helpful for this or really anything else for that matter – so hopefully this is just a 2 day glitch)
- Everyday, take ONE of the phrases and Google it like so – "Hot Yoga Calories Burned" – or – "Learn Remote Viewing Techniques" – or whatever it is that you are targeting.
- Look at the results. Take a moment and scan the first page listings for a few sources that look "authoritative".
- Go to a selected webpage and check out the article. Is it a good and trusted source, yes or no? Good sized article, yes or no? Don’t’ over think it….but I like to use good solid stuff that my readers will like, so it’s worth the extra 60 seconds to check another page if the one I pick is too short, or full of adsense crap, or otherwise.
- Highlight a little portion of the article with your mouse, and "right click" to bring up the "Blog This" selection from the menu.
- You’ll now have a "poster" screen with the highlighted text, and a nice formatted link back to the source of the content you’re "clipping" – the title will be filled in for you.
- CHANGE the title to something that BEGINS with your keyword phrase like so – "Hot Yoga Calories Burned: Does Hot Yoga Really Melt Fat Like Magic ( Read on to Find out!)
- Underneath you’ll have the clipped text – and you want to add an introduction above this text – just free associate some thoughts about the content below, and I like to keep my comments to either roughly the SAME length or a wee bit more than the scraped content. ( i.e. – if you grab 6 paragraphs and write one original sentence – not only is that going to hurt this process long term, but it’s not even necessary to get our first page results…nor is the original author going to be very appreciative)
- Choose the blog you’re posting to ( in this case, since your just starting, you’ll have only one)
- Choose the category if you want – and at the very bottom of the flock poster screen- input your technorati tags ( hot yoga tips, hot yoga calories….or whatever it is)
- Hit publish…..and you’ll auto-magically be taken to your blog where you’ll see your new keyword rich title, keyword rich opening few sentences and nicely formatted, white hat post.
- Go to Pingomatic. com – and hard ping the specific post you just made. ( I do this rather than use the default WordPress pings just because I’m superstitious and very neurotic)
Total time this takes?
Anywhere from 3-5 minutes once you get some cafeine in your system and some good Soundgarden cira 1998 in your eardrums. You can often see the results of this in a few hours in the engines – but for them to "stick", you’ll want to consistently do this everyday for at least a week or so to get trust that holds.
Depending on the type of blog you have ( i.e. – new blog – haven’t updated EVER……or – old SPAMMY blog, just getting back around to working on it now….OR ( and obviously BEST, quickest and most powerfully) a blog that you’re already doing the right things with, and just need an injection of good, solid content that links to pages GOOGLE has ALREADY determined are valuable, viable and page ONE listings for those keywords…..this works like magic, and literally…in a matter of days.
So again -
- Your Long Tail Keyword List
- Search ONE phrase a day
- "Clip" a little content using Flock from one AUTHORITATIVE and high ranking site per day, and using Flock, post an intro, and excerpt and a link back to the original source
- Ping the Post
Repeat the next day for a new phrase – OR – even better – repeat for the next niche immediately thereafter, and so on.
This works for videos and multimedia as well, but in my experience, the BEST results are content rich, text based articles.
Try it for 3 weeks. I’ve done this on dead blogs, old blogs, abandoned blogs and even blogs that just had no one ever to really believe in them, which fundamentally, like you and I, is really all most blogs want.
It’s free…..it’s FUN……It works – it works well for me, and if you try it as above….I promise, it will work well for you too!
Remember, for BEST results, use high volume, low competition keywords that you cull from a tool like Nichebot
( or Keyword Country is even BETTER for this….and they have killer, free videos that will explain alot of this stuff without having to buy anything……BUT, if you can’t afford to invest in premium tools, try Scribd for keywords, or get ideas from your own analytics, or use Google and the other free tools that are available if need be.
36 Comments to "Sexy Search Engine Strategies: How to Flock Your Way to the Top Super Duper Fast (Without Doing Anything Dirty, Distasteful or just plain wrong)
“Try it for 3 weeks. I’ve done this on dead blogs, old blogs, abandoned blogs and even blogs that just had noone ever to believe in them, which fundamentally, like you and I, is really all most blogs want.”
You mean getting everybody I know to clap their hands won’t bring them back? Back to the drawing board… lol.
Awesome method, and I’m going to do it (not try it, do it!) right now.
Thanks,
Brian
Thanks, Brian..:-) Just give it 3 weeks – I promise you’ll be surprised at how well those posts do! ( you got to keep it up though for them to “stick”……I’ve often found that you’ll see great results in a week or less – but if you *stop* – you’ll find those posts will invariably drop off – and then your momentum is lost – and before too long – I’m back to stealing from the bulk food isle again..:-)
Hello Ian: DL “Flock” and am going to follow your lead on posting. Thanks
Hi Ian
Would this work on websites too? I don’t have a blog (yet) I’m hovering, wondering if it’s worth my time. Also I would have no idea what I would blog about and if it would be of any interest to anyone!
Thanks, Sarah
Long-dead blogs that nobody believes in? Blogs with nuthin’ but tumbleweeds a-blowin’ by? Wooo-eey! Have I got a few of those! Haha… yeah, you’re advice is pretty-darned solid, Ian, and it makes a whole lot of sense. Roger that, and will do! THANX!! ^_^
Hello Ian,
I am really glad I found you on EZ one day when I was looking around for help. I am new to internet marketing and have no idea what I am doing. My husband took over the on line marketing of the website, he is quicker on the uptake and got the ranking up quite high. I got a bit discouraged about the blogging though, I started writing a small article to do with jewelry but found that anything I ever wanted to write about it is already there and better written than I would ever be able to do myself. So I gave up on the blogging idea for websites like EZ. I am thinking of just posting the articles on my social networking sites & my website and use the technique you just described.
You wrote: “In the Tools section ( yap, I know where that is ) – add your blog settings ( ? what are those ? ) – if using self hosted WordPress like most of you are – just input your WordPress username/login ( If I don’t have a SHW site yet, what would I give into the tool section instead, my website or FB address?) – and you’re good to go”.
Would it even be possible to utilize this strategy for blogs on my facebook and website?
Just before you roll your eyes remember, I Am A Novice …
El
PS. Love the help you are giving out for free, saving all your articles in a binder for quick access…:)
Elena – Thanks..:-) And this is more of a strategy to get your blogs to RANK better, not so much to add content to your social networking pages ( although there are tools and utilities that do that too….it’s just not where I focus) If you aren’t using a blog – unfortunately – this particular approach won’t be super helpful – although Flock does some really cool things for social networking too.
Don’t worry about stuff being written “better” already by the way – while writing for humans is super important – writing for search engines counts too – and blogs are a really great way of driving traffic to “store” style sites, simply by utilizing categories and keyword rich post titles – etc – doesn’t need to be shakespeare to “funnel” traffic back to your primary offers. EZA style stuff is a bit different – writing style there “counts” a bit more – but is more tedious that short, succint “blog” posts that are less cumbersome to create.
Thanks Sarah – no, this is more for blogs – rather than static websites – blogs are ALL I publish anymore – much easier to work with and far more dynamic, interactive, etc – I only use “pages” for landing/squeeze/sell pages and sometimes now I’ll even use blogs for those, too…:-)
Ian,
Just read this post and will start today on my new blog. I’ll report back on the results but everything I have gotten from you so far has been solid.
Thanks again for the great content,
Dale
Great post, Ian. I use Flock already and, although I’ve used the blogging feature – it really is great – I haven’t used it in some time, nor with the precision in which you’ve laid out here. Definitely part of my daily plan now. Thanks again.
Thank you "Man" – but, in contrast to the spirit of this particular post title – that video is in fact Dirty, Distasteful and just plain wrong. ( I watched it twice just to make sure)
(spam porn video now removed)
Thanks, Sue! It is a great tool ( and glad someone else here has used it!)
Hi Ian – Thanks for this. I always find your material interesting and helpful. I have never heard of Flock, but I’m going to give this technique a go. I’ll be looking for your next lesson.
Thanks Eddie..:-)
Thanks Falls-Down…:-)
Hi Ian – well I am ashamed to say even though I have been using Flock for about 10 months now I had no idea it had this blogging feature. In fact I am beginning to realize I don’t know half of what it is capable of.
Back to the drawing board once again me thinks!!!!!
So, it doesn’t really matter that the link you’re modifying is going somewhere else? But because the Technorati tags are for your post and for your chosen keywords, you’ll get some credit for this?
Isn’t a little bit dirty to change the title of the link since that was their original article? I just want to challenge you (in a friendly way – you know I think you rock!) on that one.
I see a lot of potential for this especially because there’s so much content out there that is not optimized but could be repurposed using these clipping techniques. I feel like they’re a little bit wrong but even if the text is changed, it’s still a backlink that will probably make that person’s article rank higher.
For instance, is it wrong to do this strategy with an article from Ezine Articles? It feels a little bit to me but I’d love to know your opinion.
Hi Jay – Hmmm….I think you may be misunderstanding a wee bit – you’re actually only creating a new post on your OWN blog, by excerpting the original article ( totally "white hat") adding your OWN unique content ( also obviously kosher ) and then linking back to the original source using keyword friendly anchor text ( another win for the original author).
Changing the TITLE is tantamount to simply creating a post on your own blog that serves your own unique keyword optimization plan ( i.e. – the keywords taht you searched for may, and often are NOT in the title of the post you’ve picked…they just rank well for it)
Think of it this way – if you liked THIS post on my blog – you’d create your OWN title for it – you may excerpt a little bit of it, and then LINK to me from you, right? You wouldn’t use MY post title on YOUR blog….because, well…..that would just be strange….. and unappreciated by me, too..:-) So you make your own – as we all do everyday. Flock is just a faciliator for this process, in the capacity that we’re using it per the example I used – and it simply expedites some of the above for you in really cool ways. ( plus does more stuff I didn’t touch on…..but you did by asking about using it for ezinearticles and such)
Yes – I do – and what YOU can do too – is use 3 or 4 of your OWN blogs -and reference one of your OWN EZA articles in the above fashion – giving 3 blogs ( a bit more of a sophisticated, for lack of a better word approach) unique content from ONE article that you already have written – now your ARTICLE has 3 incoming links – and your BLOGS have a little bit of unqiue content on each one from piece of re-purposed content.
Done – in a strategy of "scale" this is very, very powerful – and if you set up your "network" of web properties properly – you can have incoming links that you’ve manufactured, simply by repurposing your OWN stuff in creative ways ( and without tripping any blog farm sorts of triggers)
The technorati stuff isn’t really important – it’s just another little piece of leverage potentially – but again – nothing wierd about that – that just adds extra keyword tags to the pantheon of places your stuff can ultimately show up as relevant.
Again – all of the above is a "playing nice with others approach" and if it sounded a bit seamy in places – hopefully this helps illuminate why it shouldn’t..:-) If not – I’ll explain again – just ask..:-)
(Oh…..AND…..if you want to link to all of MY aricles on EZA that way – i don’t want you to feel badly……PLEASE, feel free to link to them all using the above as many times as you’d like..:-)
Thanks – I’m glad I challenged you a bit because this cleared up a little bit of the cobwebs I had about this. I was close to understanding but I wanted the full logic behind that.
I’ve already started using it though – and I think it’s a really great idea. I’ve even seem some bloggers talk about this being their strategy for when they’re stuck on what to write next.
As another strategy, you can use this technique and not only change the link title with your keywords but couldn’t you also user another keyword on your list in your introduction as a backlink for another site?
For example, my blog readers on one site may not appreciate the snippets of other stories. So I could still use this strategy on an off site Blogger blog and use it to create backlinks to boost the rankings of my main site?
Sure, right – I RARELY do it here….because that’s not the strategy i use for this particular blog. ( which is really – strategy”less” other than my own occasional burst of stuff..:-)
But – on other blogs – I can build a very resource rich site in 30 days or less, simply by using this approach, AND – as you just said – intersperse my own links in a natural way ( i.e. – 30 posts – maybe 10% of the links on that blog will be to stuff I own – all different URL’s in the same niche, etc – which, overall is not “gaming” the system if it’s looked at closely – and is just one cog in the overall machine.
Yes – you can do whatever you want with this approach – as long as your just not linking to the same 2 or 3 things, it’s a great way of accomplishing a bunch of different objectives very easily.
As always, you rock. Thanks so much for helping as you do. I really appreciate it. I’m trying to wrap my head around the scale stuff – but it just seems to be that kind of thing where you have to do one thing daily. For instance, setting yourself the challenge to start 30 Blogs in 30 Days and on each day making 1 post on each of the blogs until it gets to the point where you’re comfortably making 30 posts a day.
I can only imagine how many you might have!
Right – the key though is leverage and automation when you are building stuff on that sort of scale – 30 blogs in 30 days is NOT tough to update….BUT are a pain the ass to set up, install the proper plugins, etc – there are TOOLS though that you need to use to do this stuff WELL beyond 30 blogs -
i.e. – I use all sorts of automated scripts and things that build pretty “white hat” sites on autopilot – most are paid tools – but are not *that* expensive. ( and I’ve been chatting with a good guy on the phone recently who I’ve bought a few things from who has something coming out over the next week or so that is amazing for article automation autopilot, pretty white hat, i’ve seen the results already and if not abused, will make some people a lot of money!)
With that being said – here is my BEST advice – and advice that I unfortunately don’t listen to nearly enough:
Pick ONE thing…..and do it. Stick to only what you’re best at – let the other stuff go – and focus on ONE thing that you are truly exceptional at…..and you’ll be more successful ( and in a multitude of ways) than you can imagine. If you write really well – for example – stick to that – and don’t sweat the SEO stuff – because it will happen on it’s own.
If you have ONE niche that you really love – stick to that…and the money will come in endless streams once you get it going. ( the old passion thing again – but it’s oh-so-true)
Ian,
Impressive write up, quite the actionable post. You said it man, I have to agree, people seem to get caught up in the nofollow/follow nonsense. For me, I’d rather focus on content creation, helping potential readers and building a rapport with my audience, among other things. Linking out, to solid, useful resources/blog posts tends to bring traffic and interaction back to ones site as well. Thanks for sharing,
-Mig
Thank, Mig, I appreciate it – I liked your blog as well – plus you have a KILLER Thesis mod which made me so jealous I re-considered shelving my July 4th plans tonight to tinker with mine yet again..:-)
Killer post, Ian. Looking forward to trying it. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Janice!
Being quite the newbie at this stuff, I’m trying this one tonight!
I unsubscribed from most of the newsletters I was getting, but yours is a keeper. Thanks!
I was almost ready to quite till I found your site. Its not that I don’t want to stick to one niche, it is just that I am not sure what really will work for me. After doing a couple articles, and dipping in affiliate marketing a little with no results after two months I got fustrated.. But you have rejuvenated my motivations. Thanks.. Your blog is definately one I have to comeback to, so much useful content.
Thank you, Marie – nice of you to say!
I really find your site resourceful. You are a great writer and I can tell that you are a copywriter too lol. I just finished creating my blog and applying these instructions with the Flock. I find Flock really great by the way, it does everything I wish Firefox and IE would do. Thanks for the share.
Thanks, Rashida – have fun with flock!
Hi,
Can You tell me what should i do as my article is not approved in ezine articles as they do not allow direct affiliate links . I dont own my own top level domain name.What should i do.Plz kindly tell me
gaurav
Hi Gaurav –
Maybe get your own top level domain name?
(a .info is like 99 cents if you’re on a budget – or – just use a social hub – or free blog until you do)
Hi Ian,
As always, very helpful. What author name do you have on EZA where I could check out your articles? Not asking for a pen name, of course, but I can’t find your last name or initial here, and I can’t link to anything you’ve written if I’m not sure it was by you.
Too new, and often feeling overwhelmed by too much to learn.
Hi Beatrice – I use my name for stuff written for this particular blog (ian ross hollander) and while I don’t do a ton of these, this link will take you to an article – that will link to other articles I’ve written in my own name (mostly in the "article marketing niche" , which as I’ve expressed on here a few times, is like particpating in the process of helping paint dry to write..:-) http://ezinearticles.com/?Stop!-The-Easiest-Way-to-Make-Quick-Cash-From-Home-(The-Gurus-Wont-Tell-You-About-This!)&id=1889732
Hope that helps!
(and other articles I’ve written using my own name can obviously be accessed by clicking on the author link as well – there look to be about 325 of them if you’ve got the time and energy….although I wouldn’t recommend it..:-)
Hey Ian, good SEO tips here. I have found linking out to authoritative stuff looks great in googles eyes. Is it ok to not copy stuff and just link out at the end of a post anyways? Or perhaps set up a blogroll with a bunch of links going out?